African Hunting Dogs, with their famously large, round ears and multi-colored coat, are unique to Africa and are among the continent's most endangered species.  They once ranged through 39 countries - a population of 500,000. Today, their numbers hover at around 3,000 individuals in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa. They are Africa’s second most endangered predator after the Ethiopian wolf.  
 

African Hunting Dogs are intensely social animals, living most of the time in close association with each other. A pack can be as small as a pair, or as large as thirty. Pack allegiance, such as pups getting first feed, or members caring for the sick and injured, is an integral part of the pack dynamic and survival.  Persecution, poaching, disease, encroachment and road kills ...all the result of human intervention...present the greatest challenge to the survival of African Hunting Dogs.